Weirdly expensive current gen games?

Hey.

So, I was looking for some current gen games to play and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 popped into my head for some odd reason. I went online looking for a copy of it for 360 and JESUS CHRIST. That game is so damn expensive. £64.99 on Amazon for a new copy, £30 at Cex preowned, most ebay copies finishing at around £25-35. Why on earth is this game so expensive?

Also, are there any other examples of games like this? Games that are absurdly expensive for what seems like no real reason? I'd like to look into it more.

Thanks.

Wow, I guess I should consider myself lucky I snagged it for around £12 a couple of years back. Nothing springs to mind for me anyway, besides the typically over-priced digital versions of new games you find on the PS store and XBLM.

@Yummylee: I don't suppose you remember where you got it from? It might still be cheap in some places who haven't caught wind that it might be rare.

@Murdouken: I can't recall unfortunately... it was most likely amazon ironically enough.

The Orange Box has gone up in price for the consoles. Its like 25-30 bucks used at Gamestop. Probably a lot cheaper online

In the US, most games drop over time so I haven't really had an experience like the one in the OP. I think some new games are crazy expensive though. Ones that are kinda shoddily put together but still retail for $60 as if they're a cream of the crop AAA title.

@SomeDeliCook: Yeah, a quick google said like £7/£12 area

@Murdouken said:

@SomeDeliCook: Yeah, a quick google said like £7/£12 area

Thats what I figured.

This local place called Dimple sells a LOT of used stuff, even NES games, and some of their Xbox 360 games are crazy fucking expensive. For instance, Rock Revolution and 50 Cent Blood on the Sand is still 60 bucks.

Any good first party Nintendo game.

• Super Paper Mario, released 2007 - £29.95
• Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, released 2008 - £24.99
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl, released 2008 - £31.60
• New Super Mario Brothers, released 2009 - £32.99
• Donkey Kong Country Returns, released 2010 - £32.45
• Kirby's Epic Yarn, released 2011 - £29.89

(and so on, all based off prices from Amazon)

All around the £30 quid mark which is what they were priced at when they were first released, its crazy!

I wonder if Ultimate Alliance has gone up in price recently because of the Avengers movie?

I don't know if it's still the case since it has been released on Games on Demand, but I remember Beautiful Katamari going for quite a decent price.

@MB said:

I wonder if Ultimate Alliance has gone up in price recently because of the Avengers movie?

That sounds exactly why that has happened. Since I bought the game day one for £35 traded it in after a year or so.Could have re-bought it for £15 a number of times over the last 3 years.

I was consiering getting Ultimate Alliance 2 until I saw it was still $60 on Amazon. No local gaming shops have used copies, so that may explain the price, but I'm guessing that it is more just Activision being Activision.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition is still near full price as well.

Ghostbusters on Xbox 360! It's not really expensive, it's only $30ish on Amazon but come on only like 4 people played that game and it came out years ago! The price never drops!

I saw Heavenly Sword on PS3 is still expensive, around $30 USD which seems too much.

Metroid Prime Trilogy has gotten crazy expensive for some reason. It usually goes for $80 to $120.

@super_mario_john said:

Metroid Prime Trilogy has gotten crazy expensive for some reason. It usually goes for $80 to $120.

It was a limited production run :(

@super_mario_john: jesus christ. was that the only place you could get the first metroid prime game native on the wii?

@MB: that's actually solid reasoning that i didn't think of and kind of really annoying.

I saw Gears of War 2 at my local GameStop for a 100 USDs (which is the normal price for BRAND NEW games at stores where I live) in late 2010...

Of course that is a rare case as most games fall in price as they get older, although Counter Strike and all the Modern Warfare games do keep a pretty high price compared to other games at the same age...

Ultimate Alliance Gold Edition with all the extra DLC that you can no longer download.

@RazielCuts said:

Any good first party Nintendo game.

• Super Paper Mario, released 2007 - £29.95
• Wario Land: The Shake Dimension, released 2008 - £24.99
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl, released 2008 - £31.60
• New Super Mario Brothers, released 2009 - £32.99
• Donkey Kong Country Returns, released 2010 - £32.45
• Kirby's Epic Yarn, released 2011 - £29.89

(and so on, all based off prices from Amazon)

All around the £30 quid mark which is what they were priced at when they were first released, its crazy!

I call major bullshit on Super Paper Mario for the fact that it is one of the Wii "Elite" games which are just Nintendos way of reducing their prices to 20 bucks... that is a major rip off.

@Akyho said:

@MB said:

I wonder if Ultimate Alliance has gone up in price recently because of the Avengers movie?

That sounds exactly why that has happened. Since I bought the game day one for £35 traded it in after a year or so.Could have re-bought it for £15 a number of times over the last 3 years.

This makes huge sense as well. UA should have released along side the Avengers just for money reasons. IMO anyway.

@super_mario_john said:

Metroid Prime Trilogy has gotten crazy expensive for some reason. It usually goes for $80 to $120.

I know... and it is kinda common actually. I have no idea why it is like that.

One game that is getting RARE is Infinite Space, 50 bucks for four copies left and the rest are in the 30's. So yeah, buy a rare game people! Buy it fast!

I can't find Beautiful Katamari for sale anywhere, and the few times I have seen it the price has been too high.

Folklore is still oddly expensive. Last time I checked a new copy cost 400SEK, which is very much considering that the game is almost 5 years old.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has been expensive long before the Avengers came out, this was the exact game I came in to post when I saw the thread title. Any time I've ever seen it it's been at least 30 quid and I've had my eye out for it for ages. I assumed it must have just had a really limited run or something, but that doesn't make sense with a Marvel licensed game.

Slightly off the topic, since current gen games were specifically mentioned, but I collect retro games (as well as current gen ones) and one thing I have noticed, especially around the 16bit era, is that a lot of games are really expensive based completely on popularity as opposed to rarity. Games like Link to the Past, Super Metroid, even Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country fetch disproportionately higher prices, presumably because they were actually good games since they were commercial successes and can't possibly be rare titles.

Anyway, in the current gen, it seems like as soon as games get old, they drop in price until they become really cheap (aside from anomalies like MUA2) but do you think in years to come when people are scouring eBay and Flea Markets for PS3 and 360 games, people are going to be forking out £35 for copies of titles like Gears of War 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4?

Blizzard games are the textbook case. I'd really like to play SC2, but I'm not paying more than 15 bucks for the privilege.

@Jay444111: What they should have done was simply re-skinned Marvel Ultimate Alliance as a new Avengers game. It could have been done in less than a year and probably would have sold millions. Oh well.

I live in Aus, so games are $100 when they come out. This being said, I CANNOT for the life of me find a store selling Catherine for under $70.

@Jay444111 said:

@super_mario_john said:

Metroid Prime Trilogy has gotten crazy expensive for some reason. It usually goes for $80 to $120.

I know... and it is kinda common actually. I have no idea why it is like that.

One game that is getting RARE is Infinite Space, 50 bucks for four copies left and the rest are in the 30's. So yeah, buy a rare game people! Buy it fast!

WAY TO MAKE ME FEEL SICK JAY!!!

I bought Infinite Space day one. The only DS game I completed and actually love greatly. Traded it in with the DS and all the other games. I got £80 in total for the DS and 10 DS games. Infinite Space nabbed a £8 trade in at the time. soooo...I actualy dont feel all that sick. $50 is about £30.

Now...loaning a "Friend" your copy of Suikoden PS1 (Loaned in 2002) and him telling you he cant return it since his brother smashed it. True or not....£80 to £120 nowadays.......

@Akyho said:

@Jay444111 said:

@super_mario_john said:

Metroid Prime Trilogy has gotten crazy expensive for some reason. It usually goes for $80 to $120.

I know... and it is kinda common actually. I have no idea why it is like that.

One game that is getting RARE is Infinite Space, 50 bucks for four copies left and the rest are in the 30's. So yeah, buy a rare game people! Buy it fast!

WAY TO MAKE ME FEEL SICK JAY!!!

I bought Infinite Space day one. The only DS game I completed and actually love greatly. Traded it in with the DS and all the other games. I got £80 in total for the DS and 10 DS games. Infinite Space nabbed a £8 trade in at the time. soooo...I actualy dont feel all that sick. $50 is about £30.

Now...loaning a "Friend" your copy of Suikoden PS1 (Loaned in 2002) and him telling you he cant return it since his brother smashed it. True or not....£80 to £120 nowadays.......

Sorry to make you feel kinda sick. Just that Infinite Space is getting pretty rare nowadays and it isn't as well known as others games of it's type. However I do believe that there is going to be a popular demand for it in just a bit once no one can find a copy.

Also. That is the reason I never lend anything to anyone ever. I does not matter if they are the most careful human being on the planet I still don't lend my games to anyone, they can play the games in front of me in my own home, but if they think of getting a SINGLE game out of my vision expect me to stab them with a fork! (I have yet to do so... but I am prepared to.)

@Jay444111 said:

Sorry to make you feel kinda sick. Just that Infinite Space is getting pretty rare nowadays and it isn't as well known as others games of it's type. However I do believe that there is going to be a popular demand for it in just a bit once no one can find a copy.

Also. That is the reason I never lend anything to anyone ever. I does not matter if they are the most careful human being on the planet I still don't lend my games to anyone, they can play the games in front of me in my own home, but if they think of getting a SINGLE game out of my vision expect me to stab them with a fork! (I have yet to do so... but I am prepared to.)

Yeah. I actually forget how collectable games can be. I am someone that at times HAVE to trade or do with out new games.

I was 14. I only lend to one person and they are truly trust worthy my best friend. However I stupidly was burned by the same person ooooh...6 7...8 times? Yeah i know dumb. Lost alot of good games to him. Never again I vow.

I remember Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops got really, really rare and saw it behind glass at a local game store for like 100 bucks. Glad I didn't get it cause that game was kinda shit. People complained about Peace Walker's PSP controls? That ain't shit compared to how badly mapped PO was.

@Gimpy: I think discs don't hold up or collect as well as cartridges. They are too easy to break and become unusable. Also, so many of them are now dependant on online services that will be shut down in the future which means you aren't really getting the whole package. You might get some hardcore collectors, but I feel like it's going to be a way smaller thing than people who collect old games now.

@GloriousDinosaur said:

I live in Aus, so games are $100 when they come out. This being said, I CANNOT for the life of me find a store selling Catherine for under $70.

You should buy games at JB Hi-Fi. Games debut usually at $80 with some being $90. Never seen a standard edition go to $100 there.

@SkyTown_Drifts said:

@GloriousDinosaur said:

I live in Aus, so games are $100 when they come out. This being said, I CANNOT for the life of me find a store selling Catherine for under $70.

You should buy games at JB Hi-Fi. Games debut usually at $80 with some being $90. Never seen a standard edition go to $100 there.

Hell, I got the limited edition for $70 there. No idea how many weird looks I get when people see that big box...

@GloriousDinosaur said:

I live in Aus, so games are $100 when they come out. This being said, I CANNOT for the life of me find a store selling Catherine for under $70.

Really, dude? I bought Catherine from JB HiFi brand new for $60 when it came out. Pretty sure I have seen it for under $60 recently. Plus there should be pre-owned copies around for under or at around $50.

Call of Duty 4 is still nearly full price over here and thats preowned aswell.